Brothers in Arms
by Jinx4souls
Summary: Pidge and Keith have more in common than just being the arms of Voltron. Bonding ensues (Galra Keith hinted)


"End simulation."

Keith's breath is heavy as he steps out of the training deck. He stayed in the room longer than he had anticipated. His stomach is queasy and he feels light headed. Getting a drink of water almost seemed out of the question. He stayed long into the late night. It's probably midnight. He doesn't want his foot falls and door opening to wake anyone. His body aches and he decides he should probably listen to his conscious.

He finds the weird space caprison in what he would call a refrigerator, but apparently the Altean's have a better word. The name, Keith decides, isn't important enough to remember. As quickly as he gets his sweaty hands wrapped around the pouch he downs it. As fast as he could from a straw. Though he feels quenched, his body is still tired. He trained way past what Shiro regulated and it takes its tole on him.

He tries his best to make it through the halls quietly. This is proven hard with his sluggish walking pattern. His foot falls sound louder than he would want, but he's too tired to care now. Too tired and beaten to see where he is going. It is when he notices the door to the common room that he stops in his tracks. He groans to himself, too far away from the paladins' rooms to be heard. Turning his back away from the door, he stops when he hears a soft thud. He turns around, unsure if he really heard the noise.

*thud

Another sound rings the empty hallway. Keith suddenly doesn't feel tired as he was before. He arms himself with his dagger instead of his bayard. Cautiously he approaches the pad of the door. Before resting his hand upon the key pad he places his ear to the door and listens.

*thud

"Dang it" A voice whispers from the other side of the door. Keith is sure that there is someone there.

He hides the dagger behind his back and takes a deep breath. Calmly he places his hand upon the pad and types in the correct keys. The door opens with a swoosh and he yells:

"Whose in... here?" The common room is completely dark. The empty hallway barely offers any light to illuminate the empty room. His dagger that was once ready to strike falls back down to his side. He walks a few steps in to see if he could've possibly missed something. It is dark. The room is empty and there is no enemy. With a sigh he rubs his eyes with his free hand. "No one" He then places his dagger back to its hilt and turns around.

He watches as the door closes, much slower than it opened. It is here that he catches a light flicker on in the center of the common room. Quickly, and dangerously, he stops the door from closing with his hand. The door immediately senses the pressure and slides back open. Hurriedly he runs into the room, with his dagger back in his hand. Closer to the center is where he notices the blanket draped over the center of the seats. The light from before had already flickered off. He jumps down to where one of the many seats are below. With haste he pulls the blanket off and readies his dagger.

"Ahh!"

"Pidge?" Keith stares confused at the young paladin before him. She has a shocked expression and focuses her gaze on the dagger in his hand. Keith sees now what she was doing. All across the small circular area are different pieces of unidentifiable tech. Though judging from the larger device with wheels in her hand, that is the main project. "What are you doing in here?! Can't you do this in the Green Lion's bay?!" He doesn't mean to yell, but he feels like he's been through a lot in the span of 10 minutes. The green paladin seemed the only to blame. He sighs when she doesn't respond. Her gaze still focused on the dagger pointed at her. He puts it away and plops down onto the seat.

"What did you think you were doing?!" She finally talks. Her voice is a yelled whisper. Angrily she looks up at him from her place on the floor.

"What do you mean. I thought you were an intruder! Why are you in here?!" He responds with the same harsh whisper.

"Why are you up so late?!" She retaliates with her own question. Keith groans, but answers anyway.

"On the training deck. Now, why are you in here? With the lights off?!" He gave her an answer and he expected one back. He was tired again and he didn't want to be doing Shiro's job. It's Shiro who makes sure everyone gets to bed, especially those who didn't know how to listen. Keith's only response was a sigh. Pidge ignores his question and looks around herself. She then begins to pull all the pieces into a pile beside her robot. Keith sighs and lays his head back. He was so tired.

"I wasn't allowed back in the hanger to work on the robot. Or any tech, anywhere." Pidge sighs and picks up the blanket that was left on the floor. She then goes to sit on the elongated couch next to Keith. "Why were you in the training room? Didn't Shiro pull you out for bed?"

"I didn't sleep." Keith let's put another sigh. "I waited an hour and a half and then I went back to the training deck."

"Overworking yourself won't make you stronger against the Galra if it'll leave you tired all the time Keith." Pidge's voice is calm when she talks. Keith turns his head to face her. The bags under her eyes are noticeable.

"It'll be hard to fight when you're too tired to function Pidge." Keith's voice is surprisingly soothing. Pidge decides it's because he isn't yelling anymore. She closes her eyes and wraps the blanket tight around herself.

"Well. If it's against the Galra... Allura did say the Galra won't wait for us to get stronger." She lets out and yawn and opens her eyes again. This time she turns to face Keith. "We have to be at our best. But if we're tired, we're not at our best. But the reason we are tired is because we are trying our best to be stronger. So are we stronger? I know the answer, but it's so hard to think about. We try our best, but it makes us tired. It really makes me tired, but if it's to fight Zarkon..." Pidge lets out a deep breath.

"Wow... You must be really tired."

"Yeah..." Pidge looks up at the ceiling and leans back.

"Why are you up?" Keith looks up as well.

"I was making my own drone. Just like Rover. But this one will be solely Altean material. I don't want what happened last time to happen again."

"That's cool, but you do know it wasn't your fault right?" Keith looks at her from the corner of his eye.

"... Yeah. I know. But Rover was really helpful. Probably really helpful back in that Galra ship. I don't plan to have it shoot laser, but I do hope that I can chase down some Galra with it."

"Are you gonna name this one too?"

"Yeah. I was thinking 'Pluto'" Pidge lets out a yawn. Keith then let's out a yawn as well.

"That's... Cool." The two paladins sit in silence. They both stare at the ceiling in boredom. Though both are tired, neither seem to be able to fall asleep.

"I'd say we're pretty alike, Keith." Pidge straightens up and turns to stare at Keith again.

"How so?" She has his attention, even though he didn't turn to face her. He too, straightens up. His gaze goes to the small robot by their feet. It was actually pretty cute for a piece of metal and wires.

"You have something to do with the Galra, right?" Keith instantly goes to grab at his dagger. His hands clench and unclench.

"What do you mean?" His voice is calm. Though his eyes shift from her to the robot multiple times. Pidge easily catches on to the movement.

"The Galra. It's personal, isn't it? Like how I'm after them because my brother and dad." The blanket falls of her shoulders and she brings it back up around herself again.

"Um..." He lets go of the dagger and grabs his other hand. He looks down and begin to mess with his hands.

"It's okay. Some things are really personal. I get it." She smiles at him and turns around to look at the room. Keith takes this time to study Pidge. She was dirty to say the least, not like he was any better. They probably both smelt like dirt and sweat. "Hopefully. You'll be able to tell us soon." He immediately looks back down at his lap. Pidge yawns again. "Is that your fathers?"

"What?!" Keith looks at Pidge in confusion. She couldn't possibly be talking about the dagger. Or maybe she was talking about the jacket. That seemed less troubling for Keith to think about.

"The dagger you threatened me with when you barged in here." Keith decides now seemed safe to look Pidge in the eye. She asked and it seemed best if he didn't keep secrets from his teammates. Even though she was prying, he felt compelled to answer.

"Yeah." The answer came out low. It was almost a whisper. Pidge heard it clearly. It probably helped that he was facing her now. Easier to read his lips and such.

"I was thinking so..." Pidge stands up to retrieve her robot and trinkets. She rolls the blanket that was around her body into a bundle in her arms and hands it to Keith. He takes it without a word. Keith watches as she begins putting the smallest trinkets into her pockets. Her pants are really baggy, it's no wonder that all that metal was able to fit inside. He notices how small she is. He knows for sure she has to be younger than him. Pidge was thrown into this Voltron thing just as fast as he was. Neither of them had a choice. It's crazy to think that she was ready to go out in space alone. With out the green lion. All for her brother and dad. She was brave.

"Are you scared?" Keith asks. The words come out before he can think. The words don't stop her, she wasn't shocked.

"Not really. I mean you are my friend right?" Pidge starts up, "I see us as friends. I'd even say we're like brothers in arms in a way. I didn't really see a reason you'd actually pull a knife on me. Unless you didn't notice and actually stabbed me then I'd be scared. But what can I say. You didn't know I was here. I was scared when you came in though. I was sure that you didn't see me and next thing I know there's a knife to my face. Though the dagger wasn't exactly in my face. It was actually a few feet away from. So, No I'm not scared." Keith stares in wonder at how she was able to continue on the conversation in such a way. Pidge looks up at him from the floor, waiting for his reply back.

"Oh... I didn't mean..." Pidge raises an eyebrow in confusion. Keith stares back with the same gaze. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't at the same time. Was it his fault or hers. He decides he'd rather clear up his question rather than dwell on what Pidge just told him. He sighs and begins, "Are you scared of this? The Galra? Voltron? What happened to your family?" It is only after he asks does he feel the recoil. The words seemed so heartless and rude. Or maybe it was just his voice. His tone. He can't take back what he said.

"Yeah. I'm scared." Pidge looks Keith straight in the eye. It wasn't the answer he expected. Pidge always seemed so headstrong, the last he expected was her to admit she was scared. "Aren't you? You didn't get any good of a briefing on the situation than I did. All of us were pretty much thrown into this wild thing." Pidge lets out a heavy sigh. She stands back up and goes to sit next to Keith again. This time she wraps an arm over his shoulder. Keith clams up at the physical contact. He keeps a sharp eye on the hand on his shoulder. "Probably not, right? You're really brave Keith." Before Pidge can retract her arm from his shoulder, Keith moves his arm. Just like Pidge he brings an arm around her shoulder. They now sit next to each other in a side-ways hug position. She stops to stare at him. A confused look shows on her face when she looks at him. Keith face show uncertainty. He doesn't really look comfortable.

"I... am scared." His voice is low. Pidge feels she really wouldn't have been able to hear him if they weren't sitting so close to each other as they were right now. She wouldn't have ever believe him to say something like that. To her no less. Keith lets out a shaky breath and begins again, "I'm scared. I'm scared that Lance will never see the Earth's ocean again. I am scared that Hunk won't get to see his family one last time. I'm scared that Shiro was freed only to be captured again." For some reason, Pidge feels her eyes tearing up. "I am scared that you won't see your brother and father again."

Together they sit in silence for a while. They both ponder on what they both had said. Keith can't believe he just admitted to that. He didn't even know where those words came from. Maybe he was speaking from his heart. He did feel a light feeling in his chest. It felt great, but at the same time it didn't. It was liked he admitted to a secret he wasn't suppose to tell. He looks at Pidge and tries to gauge what she is thinking. It's hard, because he was sure that she was always thinking. She's a real smart girl.

Pidge looks at Keith, but not really. Her mind is lost as she stares forward into his eyes. Eyes that seemed so angry most of the time. Though Lance was probably to blame for those instances. She always saw Keith as this strong guy. He was pulled into this space nonsense just like the rest of them. It was him that was the most passionate about fighting the Galra. He even yelled at her for backing out from being a part of Voltron. Keith was ready to fight. He was brave. She tightens the hand on her shoulder, in a comforting gesture. The gesture is received back from Keith. His arm pulls Pidge into his side.

"I'm scared that I won't be able to see your guys's face when the Galra are defeated. That I won't be there when everyone else makes it home." Keith has a stern look on his face. Pidge felt like slapping Keith, but she was trying to keep her tears in. How dare he say 'everyone else'. Keith still looked so brave, even after he admitted to his insecurities. And here Pidge was, on the brink of tears just from hearing him. "Hey... Are you... crying?" Keith's stern expression turns into one of discomfort again. He doesn't mean to be rude, but comforting was not his strong suit.

"No." A tear slips out of her eye. Pidge did not wail. She did not fall onto her knees and weep into her hands. He face is stern and she makes sure no other tears fall out. She was brave, but she was scared too.

"If you say so..." Keith watches as Pidge uses her empty hand to rub her eyes. He lets out a yawn. "I'm tired."

"Yeah. All this emotional bonding can really tire a few Paladins out"

"I think it's just because it's at least one in the morning. You should really listen to Shiro." Keith notices the bundled blanket left in his arm. He unwinds it singlehandedly and places it over their shoulders. Pidge lets out a yawn and graciously wraps it around her free side.

"Speak for yourself. I was sitting down all day. I wasn't exerting my body with any physical activity." Pidge leans into Keith's side and closes her eyes. Keith feels drowsy himself.

"That means nothing. You were the one looking at that tech all day. Your eyes probably hurt." His voice is a whisper. He's not even sure Pidge can still hear him. "No wonder you're so tired."

"Brothers in Arms?"

"What?" Keith closes his eyes and leans into her as well.

"Just say yes red paladin." Her words are followed by a yawn.

"Okay... Sure."

"Nice."

* * *

"What are they doing?" Lance states in shock at the two paladins. Shiro comes by and place a hand onto his shoulder. He stares at the two as well, but with a more heartwarming gaze.

"I think they were bonding." Hunk yells from his place on the floor. He gathers up the robot pieces and stands up.

"I knew they wouldn't go to bed on their own will." Shiro tsk's and goes up to the two sleeping paladins. With a smile he lift up a piece of blanket that fell off Keith's shoulder. "Let them rest." Shiro walks out with Hunk.

"Dang Keith gets to sleep in." And Lance follows afterwords.


End file.
